Tri-band Carrier Aggregation (CA), the last version of 4G, is likely to be commercialized soon. Three local mobile carriers and handset makers are stepping up efforts to get the world's first tri-band commercialization title.
According to the mobile telecommunication industry on Dec. 1, SKT, KT, and LG U+ have already completed the development of tri-band CA technology, and they are now conducting final network tests. The commercialization is expected to be made possible as early as December.
Tri-band CA technology can achieve peak speeds of 300 Mbps by aggregating three different frequency bands: 20MHz at 1.8GHz; 10MHz at 800MHz; and 10MHz at 2.1GHz. Tri-band CA is four times faster than LTE with peak speeds of 75Mbps, and 30 percent faster than broadband LTE-A with download speeds of 225Mbps. For example, broadband LTE-A requires 37 seconds to download a 1GB movie, but Tri-band CA only needs 28 seconds.
Three mobile carriers are making contact with handset manufacturers to launch the world's first tri-band CA service. Previously, SK Telecom debuted Samsung phones that support broadband LTE-A for the first time. LG U+ successfully demonstrated the world’s first commercial network field trial of tri-band CA for the first time at MWC 2014. KT also laid the groundwork for tri-band CA services, as the switch of the 2.1GHz frequency band from 3G to LTE was approved by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. Korea's second-largest mobile carrier recently demonstrated the technology at the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan.